Over the years it seems that the wealth of those at the top of the economic ladder continues to steadily increase, while those stuck on the lower ends continue to stagnate. The argument has it that this unequal distribution of wealth can be traced back to corruption, a flawed taxation system, and other loopholes in our laws that favor the wealthy. I believe that removing these influences will certainly be a step in the right direction, but I also think that it’s important to recognize that total equality in terms of wealth can never be achieved in our country, lest we revert to communistic redistribution of wealth from person to person. As a consequence of our free market, capitalist economy, there will always be those who are richer and those who are poorer. However, our job as a nation is to do whatever we can ensure equal opportunity for all, and help create an environment that favors upwards mobility.

One major barrier in creating such an environment is education. It’s no secret that those who receive better education, namely college, tend to earn more in the future. However, college is an expensive institution, and so, as Piketty points out, “wealth… is a huge advantage in getting wealthier.” That said, one very important step we can take as a nation is to increase educational opportunity for those who do not earn enough to receive proper education. This may involve providing full tuition for low income students, or even counseling to help those in school stay in school. These efforts can be further supplemented by job training, employment centers, and other such governmental aide programs designed to help those stagnating in the lower income brackets. Simply adding more taxes on the rich, or even taxing them more “fairly” (despite the fact that the rich pay most of our taxes anyway), will either way be useless unless such programs are developed for the select purpose of increasing upwards mobility in the poor. In other words, instead of placing our efforts towards (at least exclusively) reducing the wealth of the rich, we should be more concerned with identifying the causes behind these cycles of poverty and take action to liberate people from it.